This invention relates to apparatus for manufacturing solidified bodies of radioactive waste produced in a nuclear power plant.
In a nuclear power plant, liquid radioactive waste is generally disposed by forming it into stably solidified bodies by mixing the radioactive waste with asphalt, cement or the like. Recently, the liquid radioactive waste is first dried to make radioactive powder and then mixed with a thermosetting resin, thereby forming solidified radioactive waste.
In the latter method, when a polymerization initiator which is operative under room temperature is used as an additive for initiating a thermosetting reaction in a mixer, the mixture of the radioactive waste powder, the thermosetting resin and the additive is set to form sludgy material which is stored in a container such as a drum can in which the mixture is solidified under the room temperature without heating, thus obtaining solidified radioactive wastes. However, during the mixing operation in the mixer, since the setting of the mixture has already been initiated because of utilization of the polymerization initiator, there is a problem regarding mixing time in the mixer. In addition, the remaining mixture adhering to the inside wall of the mixer after the main part of the mixture has been transferred into the drum can may cause a fault of the mixer or sometime may clog the outlet thereof, so that the removal and cleaning of the adhering mixture are required by using a cleaning agent. Thus, it is also required to deal with the used cleaning agent to remove the radioactive mixture contained therein.